U.S. Terror designation for the Muslim Brotherhood sparks criticism in Jordan
In January, the United States labeled Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization, the influential Islamist group’s first such designation since its establishment in 1945. On May 19, Washington further announced sanctions on Hisham Abu Mahfuz, a Jordan-based organizer for the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza, though the Trump administration did not assert that Mahfuz was part of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood. Taken together, the decisions reflect escalatory actions of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in stifling pro-Palestine actors operating inside Jordan today, despite the Muslim Brotherhood’s popularity in the country.
The Trump administration asserted that Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood provided material support to Hamas’ military wing but did not provide specific evidence of its assistance to the Palestinian armed group. The group’s designation arrived about a year and a half after the Islamic Action Front (IAF) — historically considered the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm — won the most seats in the Hashemite Kingdom’s 2024 parliamentary election, tripling its representation from the 2020 race.
Washington’s blacklisting of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, along with the Egyptian and Lebanese chapters of the movement, has raised concerns in the Hashemite Kingdom. In an interview with Democracy in Exile, Dr. Abdelfattah Rashdan, a professor of international development at the University of Jordan, criticized the U.S. designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as “interfering” in Jordan’s domestic political affairs.
The U.S. State Department declined an interview request for this article. No poll has been released on Jordanian public opinion regarding the designation, as Jordanian authorities frequently restrict surveys on sensitive subjects.
Dr. Anis Khasawneh, a former vice president of Yarmouk University, opposed Washington’s decision and noted that Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood remains “very popular” in the Kingdom, pointing to the IAF’s strong performance in the last election. Christians also serve as members of the IAF, Khasawneh added, dispelling the notion that the group is a monolithic Islamist entity. Khasawneh further contended that the Trump administration announced its terror designation after Israeli government pressure, as Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood is a fierce critic of the Jewish state.
Last month, the IAF changed its name to the Umma Party after Jordanian authorities pressured the group to drop religious references and remove “Islamic” from its name. In April 2025, the Jordanian government banned the Muslim Brotherhood, seized its assets and raided the movement’s headquarters. Earlier that month, Jordanian security forces arrested 16 individuals with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and accused them of engaging in a violent plot to destabilize the Hashemite Kingdom. Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood denied the charges.
Amman’s tensions with the Islamist group have endured for years as, in 2013, King Abdullah II called the Muslim Brotherhood a “masonic cult” and “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” That could describe the Jordanian government’s muted response to the U.S. designation, declining to praise or assail the Trump administration’s move. Mohammad al-Momani, the minister for government communications, wrote on social media, “Jordan deals with all issues in accordance with its higher national interests, and in line with the Constitution and the law.” King Abdullah has not publicly commented on Washington’s designation.
Daoud Kuttab, founder of the Amman-based Balad Radio, said in an interview with Democracy in Exile that the U.S. terror designation was an “overreach.” He insisted that Muslim Brotherhood leadership did not direct the arrested 2025 cell to launch an attack in Jordan, nor was the reported plot a result of an official Brotherhood policy decision.
Kuttab added that the Trump administration entered “uncharted territory by declaring a largely political and humanitarian movement to be an illegal terrorist one,” with little proof that the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s leadership and actions “come anywhere close” to constituting terrorism. Such action contradicts long-held U.S. values, including freedom of expression and the right to self-determination, Kuttab argued, and further damages Washington’s reputation in the region amid its support for Israel during the Gaza war and long-standing support for autocratic actors at the expense of the region’s people and democratic systems of governance more broadly.
Still, some Jordanians backed the U.S. move. Saud al-Sharafat, a former brigadier general in the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate, said, “Supporters argue that the decision strengthened counterterrorism coordination and weakened the group organizationally.” Jordan has cooperated closely with the Central Intelligence Agency during Abdullah’s reign, and thousands of American troops are posted in the Hashemite Kingdom. Sharafat added that the U.S. blacklist complicates the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood’s external relations.
Yet other analysts in Amman downplayed the significance of the designation. Amer Al-Sabaileh, a Jordan Times columnist, explained in an interview with Democracy in Exile that the Trump administration’s blacklisting of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has had little impact on the group, including its finances. The U.S. designation came months after the Jordanian government had already banned the group and targeted its leadership, and there has been no public evidence that Washington’s move led to a seizure of the Muslim Brotherhood’s funds. Sabaileh asserted that Jordanian authorities initially “feared” that Washington would demand that Amman arrest sitting lawmakers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, but such a concern has not materialized. Royal Court media director Reem Jazi did not respond to a request for comment on the concern.
During the 2011-12 Arab Spring protests, Khasawneh recalled working alongside the IAF as opposition activists called for democratization in Jordan. “They want to be part of the political arena in Jordan,” Khasawneh said. “They are not terrorists.”
Fifteen years later, as Washington’s reputation has plummeted across Jordanian public opinion, it remains curious that the Trump administration would consider this the ideal time to target the relatively popular Muslim Brotherhood. With Jordan’s government already banning the group, the United States has decided that aligning itself with authorities in Amman is a priority, especially if such a move advances another regional goal of Washington: targeting Islamist pro-Palestine organizations.